by Kaden Reed
I watched as the Trinity readied themselves to meet the onslaught. Dhurin stood calmly in front of the yawning portal with Amani taking position behind and off to the side of him. Shino disappeared from view, but I could track him with my mana sight. He made his way to crouch directly to the side of the portal.
I felt a hand grab the back of my neck and guide be backwards, “come.”
I turned to see Jax next to me and slowly nodded to him, unable to trust my voice at this moment. I was as much awed about getting to see the Trinity really fight as I was terrified that the Aku were attacking in force.
He pulled me back behind the corpse of the giant bear, “we will hold here.”
Harper spoke up, “Marty and I will be busy healing the Trinity. As the best defense we have, they are our top priority.” Marty nodded approvingly before she continued, “don’t expect any help if any of you get injured.”
Jax nodded at Bog, “we will take up positions on the flanks of this bear and use it as cover,” he then turned to me, “you are the only melee fighter our Fist has left. Stay nearby and defend us from any that get past the Trinity.”
I nodded in acceptance of the plan and walked over to kneel by the bear and took a peek through the portal. The Aku were organizing themselves in what I could now see was a dark cavernous room. Realizing that this was the first foreign Dungeon I had ever seen on the other side; I was disappointed to find bare rock and dirt with the occasional stalactite hanging from the ceiling. Everything was a drab brown and the only light seemed to be from the torches the Aku carried.
As I watched as the carried flames danced around in a flurry of motion on the other side of the portal, I slowly understood that the Aku were surprised to find resistance immediately. They were probably expecting for the monsters they sent through to be far more effective at eliminating resistance. Which was especially true if, as I now suspected, the initial attack was to place where the portal connected to our Dungeon and they knew it was to a portion of our Dungeon that we reserved for our least experienced Khanri.
Distractedly, I listened to Jax and Harper make additional preparations for the coming battle. As I continued to stare at the Aku, I struggled to come to grips with my feelings of the hated enemy. During my first encounter with them, I had unknowingly killed two of them. Although I felt like it was wrong to want someone dead, if I was honest with myself, my true fear of facing the Aku was not about facing them in combat, it was with my willingness to truly end them. I wanted to kill them. To shatter their cores into a thousand pieces. And that knowledge terrified me.
“Be ready,” Dhurin’s calm voice called to us.
Shaking myself, I saw a group of Aku approaching the portal at a dead run. Jax and Bog came up and stood behind my kneeling form, so they had a clear line of sight in preparation.
Watching in my mana sight, I saw Amani make a quick gesture and the patch of stone directly in front of the portal took on a brown hue. Never seeing it before, I knew that brown was the affinity for earth, but couldn’t fathom what the spell might be intended for.
When the first Aku stepped through the portal onto that patch of stone and dropped like a lead weight up to his waist and his three brothers quickly followed in suit. Watching the outcome, I began to think that the spell was a variation of Mud’s ability to create, well mud, and I smiled in appreciation of the predicament the Aku were in. When Amani finished the spell with another gesture and the stone returned to its normal solid state, my mouth hung open in shock.
The four Aku screamed hoarsely as their lower halves were melded with the stone. Dhurin and Amani stood calmly watching them flail in agony, not lifting a weapon to ease their pain. When I was finally able to tear my gaze from their pitiful flailing forms and refocus on the portal, I realized what they were intending with the display.
The groups of Aku milling about through the portal watched as their comrades were cruelly dealt with. Their screams unnerving them enough to make them hesitant to follow the initial assault.
Looking back at the quieting forms as their movements became sluggish then quickly became still, I knew that all it did was buy us a handful of seconds. However, the seed of fear may have been planted deep enough in those that witnessed the act that they might hesitate at an important point during the attack.
Within moments of the last trapped Aku going silent, several groups detached themselves and advanced at a steady pace towards the portal. Behind them I saw a handful of additional groups moving into position then quickly following. I knew they weren’t going to just line up and let us have at them one by one. There goes my hope that there was any truth to the fight scenes on the Magical Entertainment Network. My childhood was a lie.
As the first group of Aku leaped through the portal with enough force to clear the stones in the immediate vicinity, Amani made another gesture. Several balls of blue mana, moving far too fast for me to clearly see what the composition was, zipped from the end of his upheld staff and struck the leading four Aku. Each ball buried itself into the bodies of their targets. Screaming in fear and pain, the Aku fell to the ground when struck clawing at the embedded objects.
When the second group made it through the portal, Amani made another gesture. I watched as a thin streak of mana flashed across the short distance. When it reached the glowing objects, they exploded in rapid succession. With a deep thump each explosion turned their victim’s bones and organs into crude projectiles. Three of the four nearby Khanri caught up in the blast went immediately down. The fourth, obviously injured, somehow remained on her feet and shrieked indignantly as she stumbled towards Dhurin.
“This one is all yours,” Amani’s cheerful voice sounded distinctly out of place when faced with the carnage he was singlehandedly causing.
Grunting, Dhurin stepped forward readying his katana. With a quick parry and chop, her corpse fell to join the heap at their feet.
The next two groups plunged through the portal nearly on top of each other. Learning from the previously slaughtered Aku, they immediately spread out as to not pose such a tempting target.
Dhurin yelled a word of power and swept his blade in an arc at the nearest group of enemies. A bright flash preceded a wave of energy that soared in the direction he was aiming. All three of the Aku, seeing the incoming attack, tried to scramble out of the way of the wave. However, within seconds it had impacted and as if it was an extension of the sword he wielded, the arc cut into the bodies of its victims, severing them in half.
“Ten seconds,” Amani intoned and busied himself with chanting a spell.
Dhurin nodded and strode towards the remaining five Aku that were advancing on them both as another group of enemies piled through the portal.
Seeing that they were quickly being outnumbered and knowing that even more groups were on their way, I instinctively stood up join the fight. A firm hand on my shoulder stopped me just before I leapt over the corpse.
“You are to remain here and guard us,” I turned and saw Jax behind me, he nodded at Bog, “it is time we joined the fight.”
The orc readied his bow and let loose arrows in rapid succession. Jax meanwhile started chanting his own spells to add to the mix.
Frustrated, I growled wordlessly, indignant that I was being left out of the fight. I felt as if the very fiber of my being called out to me to destroy the Aku. Nostrils flaring, it took all of my self-control to return to a kneeling position and watch the battle.
I saw that Bog had not wasted any time; three bodies were sprawled on the floor with several arrows sprouting from each. However, one appeared to still be strong enough to be pushing himself back up to their feet. The addition of two more shafts that seemed to spring into being on his chest had him slumping back to the ground and laying still.
Dhurin was locked in combat with four of the five Aku that were advancing on them. The fifth lay at a heap on the ground, hands clutching at a slash that ran diagonally from her shoulder to hip. Judging by the size of the rapidly filling p
ool of blood, I knew she would be dead in seconds.
With a triumphant shout, Amani threw his hand in the air and pointed his staff at the four opponents facing Dhurin. Arcs of lightning ripped from his staff and struck the nearest Aku and leapt from enemy to enemy in rapid succession. Each going rigid and crashing to the stone floor, with trails of smoke drifting up from the blackened areas of their corpses.
Jax, his casting reaching a crescendo, pointed his hands at the portal as three more groups launched themselves through. A spell I recognized flew through the air and impacted a handful of the leading Aku. Each glowing ball striking their targets flared black, leaving open sores that dripped with puss and corruption. Although not killing the Aku immediately, the wounds had them falling to the ground, their strength rapidly draining to leave them too weak to continue fighting. Within seconds most were unresponsive in puddles of their own bodily wastes as the corruption overcame them.
Shino, having stayed in the same position through the battle thus far, suddenly moved with blinding speed. Stabbing a couple of the nearest Aku and throwing a handful of daggers at three that were just out of his range. The victims of his airborne assault fell writhing to the ground, a white foam forming at their mouths.
Right when I was thinking that the battle seemed to be going in our favor, a steady stream of Aku started piling through the portal. With my mana sight, I could tell that these Aku were stronger than the ones that had come before. The colors more vibrant and their auras denser, I saw a several of C ranks sprinkled with the occasional B rank Aku. I grinned in anticipation of finally joining the battle as I extended my mana blades to their fullest length.
Shino, being near to the portal when the flood of enemies started coming through, tossed a pair of throwing daggers at the lead opponent and started back pedaling to get some distance.
The blades rebounding off his plate armor, the Aku let loose a primal war cry and charged at the black furred Shokari. Crouching down and readying his daggers, Shino met the charge and dodged the incoming flurry of blows, waiting and studying his opponent for any vulnerability. When he struck, it was blindingly fast. In one smooth motion, he ducked a swing aimed for his head and launched upwards, his dagger finding the seam of the Aku’s armor and burying itself deep into the man’s ribcage. Twisting and jerking, Shino pulled out the dagger and struck three more times in rapid succession. The Aku’s face frozen in surprise, his sword slipped from his numb fingers to clatter on the stone floor, as he toppled to lay motionless. Finished, he stepped away from his opponent and was immediately joined in combat with a rapidly growing list of enemies.
Dhurin, several bodies lying motionless at his feet, was fighting six enemies. All arrayed around him, they took turns assaulting the Kensai. Unable to do anything other than defend, he shouted and with a loud clap of noise, two translucent copies of himself stepped out of his body and readied their swords. Each spirit form launched themselves at individual Aku with weapons raised. Their swords passing right through their victim’s attempts at blocking the incoming strikes, the two Aku fell in agony as the spirits carved off great hunks of a white substance that seemed to dissipate in the air.
Examining the effects in mana sight, I could see rents being created as the spirit’s blades carved into the Aku’s mana channels. The mana spilled out of the gaping hole as if it was bleeding. However, as I watched, the channels began rapidly stitching themselves back together. As this was my first time witnessing something else that was able to effect mana besides my own abilities, I was curious to ask Akashi about it later. Caught by surprise, I ducked in reflex as several more arrows flew from behind me to strike the Aku still piling from the portal. Slapping myself for getting distracted, I filed this away for another time and refocused on the battle.
Looking around, I realized over twenty enemies had made it to our side of the portal with more still streaming through. Although the Trinity were amazingly powerful and worked exceptionally well as a team, I doubted that they would be able to keep up the momentum in the face of such odds. Especially as I saw that the Aku coming through now were even stronger than the ones just a handful of moments before.
Skirting around the Aku that were fighting Shino near the middle of the floor, two enemies clad in thick black plate armor saw Bog and Jax standing some ways away and started charging at them. Smiling in eager anticipation, I positioned myself a little further down the side of the dead bear’s corpse, hoping to stay out of sight long enough to spring my own ambush.
As the two Aku neared, both readying their weapons for lethal strikes, I slid out from hiding and slashed at both of their legs with my mana blades. Grunting in satisfaction as my blades sliced into my targets, I noticed with some surprise that my attacks met similar resistance that I encountered when fighting the bear earlier. I had originally assumed that the amount of affinities equated to the amount of natural defense something had. However, understanding slowly dawned on me that it wasn’t the affinities, it was the mana density. Cursing myself for a fool because it seemed so obvious now, my attacks were pure mana so naturally the only thing that was an effective defense would be mana itself.
As the two fell, I pounced on the closest one, shoving my blade into his throat then rotating and slashing with my other blade across the Aku’s chest. Still flailing, I reoriented myself and finished off the second victim with a quick stab through the heart.
Making sure they were truly dead, I watched in my mana sight as the energy coursing through them slowed and then stopped. I had to exert a tremendous amount of restraint on myself while I watched them die. Every fiber of my being wanted me to go straight for their cores and end them forever. But a small part of me knew that the resulting explosions from the uncontrolled release of magical energy would probably cause more harm than good to our side. Based on the numbers that I could see on the other side of the portal still waiting to invade, they could absorb the losses while every one of Akashi’s defenders here were precious.
Glancing behind me I saw Harper and Marty, hands shaking with fatigue and sweat beading on their foreheads, both were casting healing spells furiously. I watched their too wide unblinking eyes darting franticly around the room, doing their best to divine the future so as to not waste a spell. Witnessing their struggle to hold the panic at bay made the magnitude of this fight hit home. The outcome of this battle is balancing on the point of a blade. Then thinking back to what I just witnessed, or more likely it rests on the dexterous fingers of two quickly tiring healers.
“Afton!” A frantic call from Jax had me whipping around to find another Aku almost on top of me.
In startled panic, I reflexively raised both of my blades above me in a cross guard to try to catch the descending ax heading for my face. With a quick jerk, my blades sheared straight through the wooden haft. Normally, I would say that was a great thing. This time though, in my panic induced reaction, I hadn’t thought the whole thing through. My mana blades can pass straight through armor, flesh and bone with varying amount of resistances. So, my addled brain didn’t catch the fact that when you sever the ax handle, the ax head itself keeps going on the trajectory it was already traveling. Unfortunately, it was heading directly into my face.
I managed to turn my head just enough that the ax head clanged off the metal part of my helmet on the top of my head. My head ringing and my vision blurred, making the Aku towering above me seem to swim in the air as he looked at the handle of his former ax in confusion. Finally deciding on a course of action, he threw the wooden haft which rebounded off my chest and drew his dagger to pounce on my prone form.
Throwing up my fists in defense, the Aku didn’t realize the danger as he fell on top of me, dagger clutched in both hands, angled to drive into my heart. Finding my invisible mana blades first, I grinned in satisfaction at the look of utter surprise on the man’s face as they split through his armor and erupted through his back in a spray of gore. Clenched in suddenly weakened fists, his dagger scraped harmlessly off my armo
r and I slid out from under him in time to see another attacker bearing down on me.
The Aku clad in simple banded mail armor was already swinging a bladed spear in a wide arc in my direction. Dropping back to the ground under the slashing weapon, I launched myself towards her with all of my power. My blades pierced the woman’s chest as I bore her to the ground. Using my momentum to go into a roll as we hit the ground, the blades tore at her insides when they were unceremoniously pulled free.
As I stood up, I let loose a primal roar of triumph, issuing a primal challenge at the nearest enemies. Seeing one hesitating as he advanced on me, the predator inside of me grinned wickedly and I charged straight for him. Quickly getting lost in the blood frenzy, I tore with my blades into anything that got near and exulted as the parts of enemies that I carved off were scattered at my feet. Stopping to admire the grisly spectacle, I laughingly compared them to the puzzles my family would occasionally spend an evening doing back home.
Another man dressed in all black leather stepped through the portal, followed by a dozen other Aku. One immediately charged at me as I was the closest to the oncoming horde.
Grimly pleased to have another opponent, I locked my gaze with his unnatural black eyes. His giant sword raised over his shoulder and swung it down at me in a curving arc.
Stepping to the side, I allowed the sword to pass within inches of me and taunted him, “try again.”
Sliding forward he reversed his grip and swung in a diagonal upwards slash. The predator roaring at my superiority over my enemy, I continued to dodge and taunt him until a wordless scream from behind me broke through my revelry.
Glancing back, I saw Marty pinned to the ground by a spear, the Aku holding it twisting savagely. Working it through my friend, he picked the spear up, holding it aloft with Marty’s small form still impaled and started jogging back towards the portal.
In a flare of rage that they thought they could take my friend; I broke off from my attacker and sprinted straight for my friend’s assailant. Reaching him, I snarled as I grabbed one of his shoulders with my left hand and rammed my right mana blade directly into his core. Fighting against the terrible resistance, it felt like my blade was trying to stab a metal ball bearing. It seemed like it was slipping and sliding everywhere. In sudden inspiration, I widened my mana blade to be a flat surface with a slight concave inside the Aku’s body. In the center of my new weapon, I placed a two-inch spike of thin mana.
